China will continue to suspend tariffs on U.S.-made cars and auto parts past April 1, according to a notice from China’s State Council and a report from Reuters. In December, China originally announced it was suspending additional 25 percent tariffs on U.S. vehicles and parts as a show of good faith as the two countries negotiated a trade deal. The tariff suspension was scheduled to end April 1, but China announced on March 31 that the country would be upholding the suspension to “create a good atmosphere for the ongoing trade negotiations between both sides,” according to Reuters. China’s State Council said it will announce at a later date when the extension will expire.

Because the Trump administration has cheered on Brexit, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., thinks Congress should not consent to starting negotiations with the United Kingdom on a free trade agreement. Murphy, who spoke at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York April 1, said the U.S. should reach a free trade agreement with the European Union first. Though, in a quick acknowledgement of the difficulty the two sides had during Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership talks, Murphy added "or at least give that FTA a serious try."

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer touched on India’s potential retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. and criticized the country’s “significant tariff and nontariff barriers” in the 2019 National Trade Estimate on Foreign Trade Barriers. The 540-page report, released March 29, said India’s tariff barriers “impede imports of U.S. products into India” and was critical of India’s “complex” customs system and failure to “observe transparency requirements.”

The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security would like to increase its funding by about $4 million for export administration (EA), the agency said in its Fiscal Year 2020 budget justification. That new money would be split between "Identifying and Reviewing Emerging Technologies" and "Addressing Increased Foreign Investment Reviews," it said. BIS is asking for funding for 21 new personnel, the agency said.

In the March 29 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

The United Kingdom’s HM Revenue & Customs issued a guidance document March 29 detailing value-added tax procedures for imports from Ireland should the U.K. leave the EU with no deal on April 12, as scheduled. Once the U.K. leaves the EU, import VAT will be due on goods moving from Ireland to Northern Ireland, whether those goods are ending their journey in Northern Ireland or are only moving through on the way to Great Britain, HMRC said.

The European Union published a new edition of its Explanatory Notes to the Combined Nomenclature tariff schedule in the March 29 Official Journal. “The Explanatory Notes to the CN are considered to be an important aid for interpreting the scope of the various tariff headings but do not have legally binding force,” the EU Commission said in an emailed press release. “The latest version is now available from EU Official Journal C 119 of 29 March 2019. It includes and, where appropriate, replaces those published in the EU Official Journal, C series, up to 4 January 2019.”

The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of March 29 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency will not "reduce the service hours for manually processing import declarations transmitted" through the legacy service options "at this time," the agency said in a March 29 notice to industry about integrated import declarations (IIDs). The decision follows industry concerns raised earlier this year, it said. The legacy service options, Other Government Departments (OGD) pre-arrival review system (PARS), or SO 463, and release on minimum documentation (RMD), or SO 471, were set for decommissioning on April 1, 2019, but CBSA said it will instead begin a phased approach on that date (see 1903280062).

Hong Kong issued a warning about trading products that may contain cannabis, THC or cannabidiol (CBD), saying violations will constitute offenses under Hong Kong’s Dangerous Drug Ordinance as well as its food regulations, according to a March 20 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture' Foreign Agricultural Service. Hong Kong specifically warned traders from exporting or importing products that contain CBD. While CBD is not classified as a dangerous drug under Hong Kong’s ordinances, the region’s food safety authority said “it is difficult to extract pure CBD that does not contain any THC,” according to the report. Violators are subject to criminal penalties, the report said, including a maximum penalty of fines of more than $600,000 or imprisonment for life. Hong Kong’s warning was prompted by Canada’s legalization of recreational marijuana last year and a 2018 Hong Kong seizure of nearly 600 pounds of a product, Juicy Wrap, suspected of containing THC, the report said. The product originated in the Philippines and was bound for Canada, according to the report.